Batter's Up For Some Cold Cash From State

Slugger Jose Canseco may be losing $24,000 a day because of the baseball strike, but the state of Florida may have a little something to ease the loss: a check for $124.50.

The Miami baseball player, who earns $4.3 million a year playing for the Texas Rangers, is thought to be one of 45,000 Floridians with unclaimed money waiting for them at the state Comptroller's Office - a total of $14.1 million, to be exact.

Canseco's check, from BellSouth Telecommunications Inc., ended up with the state because the company couldn't find him. His address was listed as a Miami post office box.

Thousands of other Floridians have cash, utility refunds, stocks or bonds coming to them from dormant accounts and "abandoned property" turned over to the state from banks, insurance companies and other agencies unable to find the owners or their heirs.

Twice each year, the State Comptroller tries to track them down by placing advertisements in newspapers around the state, listing their names and last known addresses.

The advertising section appears today in a dozen newspapers around the state, including the Sun-Sentinel.

The state's list includes more than 10,000 people whose last known addresses were in Broward, Dade or Palm Beach counties.

The money for Jose Canseco is thought to belong to the ballplayer, who grew up in and lives in Miami. There's only one Jose Canseco listed in Miami directory assistance and that number is unpublished. Canseco could not be reached.

Nancy A. Knox of Fort Lauderdale and Ruby E. Lord of Lake Worth were a little luckier than Canseco. Knox has a check waiting for $547.23 and Lord has $5,163.92 coming her way, if the state can find them. Knox was traveling out of the country on Wednesday, according to a friend. Lord could not be reached. Miami attorney Edward Blumberg was surprised to learn he has $1,102.50 from an insurance company waiting to be claimed.

"That's great," Blumberg said. "I would have never picked up on it. This is a pretty unusual occurrence. It's much better to have money coming this way."

The smallest amount may be going to Barbara J. Jones of Pinellas Park, who is entitled to two cents from the state.

State workers didn't know on Wednesday who had the biggest stash of cash coming, but some amounts are thought to exceed $200,000.

Accounts that remain inactive for a number of years are deemed to be dormant or abandoned under Florida law. The companies holding the property must turn it over to the state if they are unable to find the owners or their heirs.

The state is required to advertise the names of those people twice a year, in late February and late August. The ads result in about 30 percent of the money being matched with its rightful owners.

"We've had some people owed tens of thousands of dollars, believe it or not," said Comptroller spokesman Terence McElroy. "Generally, in those cases, the person has died and they don't have any heirs or they don't make any provisions for their estate. Other times, people move away or they've just forgotten they had an account.

Since Florida's Abandoned Property Program began in 1961, the state has taken in $415 million. Of the total, $144 million has been returned to the owners. The unclaimed money is turned over to a state trust fund that benefits public schools.

"We regard this as a win-win situation," McElroy said. "Hopefully, the money is returned to the rightful owners. Even if it isn't, it benefits public schools."

If your name or a relative's name is on the list, call the Comptroller's toll-free hotline at 1-800-848-3792. The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.